Lecture Poisoning Trees: Pesticide Use in Forests in the Twentieth Century Add to calendar 2025-12-03 11:00 2025-12-03 12:30 Europe/Rome Poisoning Trees: Pesticide Use in Forests in the Twentieth Century Sala del Consiglio Villa Salviati - Castle YYYY-MM-DD Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Scheduled dates Dec 03 2025 11:00 - 12:30 CET Sala del Consiglio, Villa Salviati - Castle Organised by Department of History EUI Professor Corinna Unger will give a talk in the framework of the History Department Monthly Research Meetings. For much of the twentieth century, especially its second half, synthetic pesticides were applied to forests across the world. This paper investigates the different uses of pesticides in forests, from chemical warfare in colonial and postcolonial contexts to industrial forestry after the Second World War, and the part played by one of the key actors in international forestry of the postwar period, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). I argue that this little-known history deserves a closer look for what it can reveal about changing perceptions of the natural environment and natural resources, the role of science and technology in shaping economic structures, the international politics of expert knowledge, and the importance of non-governmental actors in challenging ecologically destructive practices. Register